. When I rotated the front right
> wheel though, there was a clanking sound. It turns out the grease
> cap had come off and was banging around under the hub cap> Tim
Reminds me of a time, oh about 14 or so years back when I had a "rolling
clatter" I'd noticed coming from the wheel of a 1971(?) Torino wagon I was
towing my WWII Jeep to Tennessee with...I and a friend had left NJ late in
the evening, and pulled into Lexington Va.(off I-81) around 3 a.m for a cup
of coffee, and a snack, and I heard "tink-tink...tink-tink.." as I drove
from the gas station we'd filled up at to the diner across the street.
Stopping at the diner, I rolled the car forward slowly, while my friend, now
outside, listened to hear which wheel it came from. Pulling the wheelcover
from one, we discovered two lugnuts, complete with partial studs rolling
around! I took a closer look at the wheel, and discovered there were three
studs left, all slightly wedge shaped from wear, none tight! I recalled
hearing two noises earlier which sounded like firecrackers as we had gone
through a tunnel. It now became obvious to me that had been the shear point
for those two studs!
Inspection of the rim now disclosed the fact the holes had oblongated into
ovals of about an inch long each- rendering the rim quite useless. I changed
the tire and rim, and tightened down the three remaining lugnuts- which
luckily enough were in opposite positions- not three in a row. Tightening
well, I proceeded around the car, tightening all the lugnuts to be sure.
Why had these lugnuts been loose? A local Midas shop had done a
complete(almost!) brake job to the car(this was why we had been so late
leaving) and neglected to tighten this wheel- the mechanic had threaded the
lugnuts on, but failed to tighten them fully. As this was a driving wheel,
on a large vehicle, towing another vehicle, I can only imagine the damage it
would have caused, had I lost the wheel entirely. I was in no position to
have full repairs enacted before the finish of the trip, so we continued on
our journey, and return.
Midas apologized and replaced the wheel. Had I been brought up more like
today's standards, I'd have sued them for negligence, and so forth, but I
wasn't, and we were happy to have the rim replaced, though we never went
there again!
Moral of the story- When you go to an outside mechanic, check your nuts
before you lose them.
Scott :)
64 Herald/Sports 1200 Convertible
http://www.homestead.com/herald1200/
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